ChatGPT Reached a Billion Users. Codex Faces a Much Harder Sell.
ChatGPT reaches one billion people a week, while only 0.7% of active individual users tried Codex in June. Why is delegation still such a hard sell?
People are using ChatGPT in huge numbers. But hardly anyone lets Codex do the work for them. Those who do use it heavily.
On August 6, 2026, OpenAI said ChatGPT had reached one billion weekly users. In the 28 days ending June 11, just 0.7% of active individual users tried Codex. Yet Codex accounted for 16.5% of all output tokens generated by that group. Among Business and Enterprise users, 17.3% used Codex, but it accounted for 63.3% of their output tokens.
Inside OpenAI, the picture is completely different. Codex was used by 97.9% of active employees and accounted for 99.8% of output tokens. OpenAI itself describes this as an unusually favourable environment: employees understand the models, receive training, share knowledge and face no usage caps.
Access remains a clear hurdle. ChatGPT Work can use files, apps, websites and connected accounts. One OpenAI engineer gave the agent access to his inbox and Slack. The TechCrunch reporter refused access to his inbox, interviews and draft articles. He also couldn’t get read-only access to cloud storage to work.
None of this proves that privacy is the main barrier. Complicated setup, reliability, control, cost and support inside organisations all matter too.
Would you let Codex read your emails if it meant taking work off your plate?
#OpenAI #ChatGPT #Codex #AIAgents
